Hey Everyone!
I hope everyone has had a fantastic week! This past week has been the
most successful of the transfer, in terms of numbers, and things are
definitely pointing in the right direction. I apologize for not
getting my email out yesterday, like I had hoped; we went to a
waterfall in Tujunga, and Elder Steffen and I had to help the zone
leaders for about four hours afterwards with cleaning the cars and
taking them back to the mission office. As a result, I am sending all
of my emails off today with their permission. It's crazy to think that
we are already into April! Here is a recap of the past week:
Tuesday, March 25th, 2014:
During the morning, we had to go down to the train station to buy
another month pass for Elder Steffen. We then had to go down to the
library to allow him to do a few things for the Army. I'm glad that Ihave all of my college stuff already taken care of already. Elder Steffen and I
contacted two different referrals during the afternoon and set up
return appointments at both places. I feel like we have so much
potential for finding new investigators, but we need to visit a number
of different people to be able to get all of these new investigators,
in addition to bringing more members to lessons with us. One thing
that I have noticed about this area so far is that it is very
difficult to get members present to lessons. At night, we stopped by
the Varelas to visit Alex and Chris. Abel now works Monday through
Saturday from 5 AM to 10 PM, so it will be very difficult to meet with
him. We shared two videos with Alex and Chris that were both inspiring
Mormon Messages. We hadn't taught Chris about the Law of Chastity, so
we used a Mormon Message about "Stay Within the Lines" to lead into a
brief overview of the Law of Chastity with Chris. We also shared a
Mormon Message with Alex about "Mountains to Climb." He is going
through some struggles that are the cause of his divorce, so we have
been trying to help him build his self-confidence. It is amazing how
inspiring the words of the modern-day Apostles can be. When people
have the hope that they can change, that is when the miracles come.
Wednesday, March 26th, 2014:
If felt so nice to have another day to get a lot of work done. I feel
as though we have had so many miscellaneous things going on that have
caused us to not have the amount of time to work that we would like.
During the afternoon, we tried going by a few different people who are
former investigators, but no one was home. We did, however, run into a
man named Eddy who we have talked to on the bus before. He told us
that we should go visit his sister. While Elder Steffen and I were
searching for the exact house, we ran into another man named Edgar. I
honestly believe that Edgar was placed in our path as we were walking
because he seemed genuinely interested in talking to us and wanted us
to stop by tomorrow to share a message with him and his family. Like
"Preach My Gospel" says, we must have faith in The Lord that he will
place people in our path who we need to talk to. At night, we went
down to the church for mutual, and Hermana Diaz wanted us to join in
to play a little basketball and dodgeball with the youth to emphasize
the importance of both physical health and also spiritual health. It
only lasted for a few minutes, but it was really fun to play some
games with people who aren't really that much younger than I currently
am. I honestly wish that we would be able to do more activities like
that as missionaries because those activities are a fun way to build
relationships between people. When the relationship between members
and missionaries is strong, we are able to see a greater number of
miracles in the lives of those who are earnestly searching for the
truth.
Thursday, March 27th, 2014:
Today was unquestionably the most successful day that Elder Steffen
and I have had together. District meeting in the morning was inspiring
because Elder Knight shared some powerful comments about developing
the faith to find more people to teach; I feel like we put that lesson
into practice today, too. Elder Steffen and I brought Alex Varela
around with us for about three hours, and he provided a lot of help
for us during the day, which enabled us to find three new
investigators and have a member present in each of the lessons. During
our first lesson, we stopped by Edgar's house. He is a young guy who
we contacted on the street yesterday. His younger brother, Giovani,
answered the door, so we began teaching Giovani about the Restoration.
While going over the First Vision, Edgar came out of his room and
ruined the whole lesson with all of his interruptions. He repeatedly
went off about God not loving us because He lets bad things happen,
which made it impossible to teach at all. Alex Varela came with us to
our second lesson at Karina's house. Karina is nineteen and was a
referral from Elder Morrell, who is one of the English AP's. (He was
originally a Spanish missionary who got moved to English work, so he
speaks to Latino people in Spanish and gives out a lot of referrals to
Spanish missionaries). The lesson with Karina was great! She was very
receptive and attentive to our message about the Restoration. She even
asked about how we perform the ordinance of baptism at the end of the
lesson! I can definitely envision Karina taking the necessary steps to
be baptized. For the third lesson of the day, Elder Steffen and I
stopped by Silvia's house to see how she has been. Jose and Jorge were
both home and busy, so we just talked to Silvia a little bit more
about what she needs to do to obtain her marriage license. I'm
optimistic that we can help her obtain it and help her enter the
waters of baptism within the coming weeks or months. To conclude the
evening, we went by Alex Varela's house to share a message with him.
We talked to Alex about the goal of entering the temple to receive his
endowment. Alex's mother was an active member of the Church before she
passed away, and Alex was really interested to learn about how he can
see his mother again. Alex is so humble and ready to learn, so it is
quite the privilege to help him progress in the Gospel. There is
always progress that can be made, but I was so happy and content that
we were able to teach four total lessons in a single day. The Lord is
blessing us here in this area, and now we need to be reapers, rather
than sowers -- "the field is white, all ready to harvest."
Friday, March 28th, 2014:
Yesterday, Elder Morrell, one of the English AP's, gave us three
referrals, one of which we were going to have a lesson with today. The
appointment was made for the early afternoon, so it threw off our
plans and timing for many of the things that we had set up today, such
as weekly planning. We went to go have a lesson with the referral,
Fernando, and his wife, Gloria. They graciously invited us in and were
happy to listen to what we had to share. The lesson started off well,
but Fernando and Gloria began talking and telling stories about things
that had absolutely nothing to do with what we were talking about.
They kept interrupting the flow of the lesson, making it nearly
impossible for us to focus on the commitments that we wanted to
extend. By the end of the lesson, we had been at their house fornearly two hours; I had a hard time focusing for that long.Fernando told us at the end of the
I hope everyone has had a fantastic week! This past week has been the
most successful of the transfer, in terms of numbers, and things are
definitely pointing in the right direction. I apologize for not
getting my email out yesterday, like I had hoped; we went to a
waterfall in Tujunga, and Elder Steffen and I had to help the zone
leaders for about four hours afterwards with cleaning the cars and
taking them back to the mission office. As a result, I am sending all
of my emails off today with their permission. It's crazy to think that
we are already into April! Here is a recap of the past week:
Tuesday, March 25th, 2014:
During the morning, we had to go down to the train station to buy
another month pass for Elder Steffen. We then had to go down to the
library to allow him to do a few things for the Army. I'm glad that Ihave all of my college stuff already taken care of already. Elder Steffen and I
contacted two different referrals during the afternoon and set up
return appointments at both places. I feel like we have so much
potential for finding new investigators, but we need to visit a number
of different people to be able to get all of these new investigators,
in addition to bringing more members to lessons with us. One thing
that I have noticed about this area so far is that it is very
difficult to get members present to lessons. At night, we stopped by
the Varelas to visit Alex and Chris. Abel now works Monday through
Saturday from 5 AM to 10 PM, so it will be very difficult to meet with
him. We shared two videos with Alex and Chris that were both inspiring
Mormon Messages. We hadn't taught Chris about the Law of Chastity, so
we used a Mormon Message about "Stay Within the Lines" to lead into a
brief overview of the Law of Chastity with Chris. We also shared a
Mormon Message with Alex about "Mountains to Climb." He is going
through some struggles that are the cause of his divorce, so we have
been trying to help him build his self-confidence. It is amazing how
inspiring the words of the modern-day Apostles can be. When people
have the hope that they can change, that is when the miracles come.
Wednesday, March 26th, 2014:
If felt so nice to have another day to get a lot of work done. I feel
as though we have had so many miscellaneous things going on that have
caused us to not have the amount of time to work that we would like.
During the afternoon, we tried going by a few different people who are
former investigators, but no one was home. We did, however, run into a
man named Eddy who we have talked to on the bus before. He told us
that we should go visit his sister. While Elder Steffen and I were
searching for the exact house, we ran into another man named Edgar. I
honestly believe that Edgar was placed in our path as we were walking
because he seemed genuinely interested in talking to us and wanted us
to stop by tomorrow to share a message with him and his family. Like
"Preach My Gospel" says, we must have faith in The Lord that he will
place people in our path who we need to talk to. At night, we went
down to the church for mutual, and Hermana Diaz wanted us to join in
to play a little basketball and dodgeball with the youth to emphasize
the importance of both physical health and also spiritual health. It
only lasted for a few minutes, but it was really fun to play some
games with people who aren't really that much younger than I currently
am. I honestly wish that we would be able to do more activities like
that as missionaries because those activities are a fun way to build
relationships between people. When the relationship between members
and missionaries is strong, we are able to see a greater number of
miracles in the lives of those who are earnestly searching for the
truth.
Thursday, March 27th, 2014:
Today was unquestionably the most successful day that Elder Steffen
and I have had together. District meeting in the morning was inspiring
because Elder Knight shared some powerful comments about developing
the faith to find more people to teach; I feel like we put that lesson
into practice today, too. Elder Steffen and I brought Alex Varela
around with us for about three hours, and he provided a lot of help
for us during the day, which enabled us to find three new
investigators and have a member present in each of the lessons. During
our first lesson, we stopped by Edgar's house. He is a young guy who
we contacted on the street yesterday. His younger brother, Giovani,
answered the door, so we began teaching Giovani about the Restoration.
While going over the First Vision, Edgar came out of his room and
ruined the whole lesson with all of his interruptions. He repeatedly
went off about God not loving us because He lets bad things happen,
which made it impossible to teach at all. Alex Varela came with us to
our second lesson at Karina's house. Karina is nineteen and was a
referral from Elder Morrell, who is one of the English AP's. (He was
originally a Spanish missionary who got moved to English work, so he
speaks to Latino people in Spanish and gives out a lot of referrals to
Spanish missionaries). The lesson with Karina was great! She was very
receptive and attentive to our message about the Restoration. She even
asked about how we perform the ordinance of baptism at the end of the
lesson! I can definitely envision Karina taking the necessary steps to
be baptized. For the third lesson of the day, Elder Steffen and I
stopped by Silvia's house to see how she has been. Jose and Jorge were
both home and busy, so we just talked to Silvia a little bit more
about what she needs to do to obtain her marriage license. I'm
optimistic that we can help her obtain it and help her enter the
waters of baptism within the coming weeks or months. To conclude the
evening, we went by Alex Varela's house to share a message with him.
We talked to Alex about the goal of entering the temple to receive his
endowment. Alex's mother was an active member of the Church before she
passed away, and Alex was really interested to learn about how he can
see his mother again. Alex is so humble and ready to learn, so it is
quite the privilege to help him progress in the Gospel. There is
always progress that can be made, but I was so happy and content that
we were able to teach four total lessons in a single day. The Lord is
blessing us here in this area, and now we need to be reapers, rather
than sowers -- "the field is white, all ready to harvest."
Friday, March 28th, 2014:
Yesterday, Elder Morrell, one of the English AP's, gave us three
referrals, one of which we were going to have a lesson with today. The
appointment was made for the early afternoon, so it threw off our
plans and timing for many of the things that we had set up today, such
as weekly planning. We went to go have a lesson with the referral,
Fernando, and his wife, Gloria. They graciously invited us in and were
happy to listen to what we had to share. The lesson started off well,
but Fernando and Gloria began talking and telling stories about things
that had absolutely nothing to do with what we were talking about.
They kept interrupting the flow of the lesson, making it nearly
impossible for us to focus on the commitments that we wanted to
extend. By the end of the lesson, we had been at their house fornearly two hours; I had a hard time focusing for that long.Fernando told us at the end of the
lesson that they aren't really ready to change religions; they just
wanted to let us in to learn more about what we believe. When Elder
Steffen and I got back to the apartment, we had to do a condensed
weekly planning session. We were quite efficient, and we finished just
in time to head over to the Monzon's house for dinner and correlation
meeting. Hermano Monzon wanted to started the meeting at 6 PM rather
than the usual 7 PM so that we could all come over and eat dinner as
well; however, Elder Steffen and I were the only missionaries who did
not show up an hour late. We still had the dinner and meeting, but we
didn't get home until about 9:45 PM. It seems like spending too much
time on one thing has some large ripple effects that cause other
things to take longer, too.
Saturday, March 29th, 2014:
The Varela family needed help with cutting down a few banana trees in
their back yard, so Elder Steffen and I went over to help in the
morning. It ended up being a much larger service project than we were
thinking it would be because Abel wanted to do a lot of yard work
while we had everyone together to work. We took down four banana
trees, cleaned out an entire garden, weeded all around the property,
in addition to removing a full truck load of trash. My favorite part
was using a pick axe to cut through the bark of the banana trees and
then pull them down. By the end of the five hours that we were
working, I was covered in dirt. I love grunt work like that because it
is so much fun to see the difference between the "before" and the
"after." When we finished, Abel bought everyone burgers from a local
burger joint called Troy's. I loved being able to eat some more
American food! I love eating Mexican food, but it is nice to be able
to enjoy a nice burger every once in a while. Elder Steffen and I
stayed around for a few minutes to talk to Abel, Alex and Alex's
daughter, Samantha. They are such a nice family, and Abel told us that
we are more than welcome to come back and visit and stay at his house.
One thing that I really love about Latino culture is the feeling of
"family" that everyone has; Latino people are much more unified as a
family (and consequently happier) than most white people. The more
that I work with Latinos, the more that I grow to love them and love
the differences between our cultures. Elder Steffen and I got back to
missionary work after we finished up with the service project.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to find anyone home. I was very happy
in knowing that we helped out the Varelas as much as we did, despite
not finding anyone to teach during the remainder of the day. It is
quite amazing how great I feel after doing service for people.
Sunday, March 30th, 2014:
Every fifth Sunday, the missionaries are in charge of all of the
lessons and the program at church; today happened to be one of thosedays, but no one told us in advance! We threw something together
quickly and managed to pull everything off. During Sacrament Meeting,
all of the missionaries in our district got up to sing "A Child's
Prayer" in Spanish from the Children's Songbook. It went fairly well,
but I am an awful singer. Hermana Lopez, Hermana Vellinga and Elder
Knight really carried the group on that song. After church ended,
Elder Steffen and I worked with Hermano Escobar to request a few more
records of members. What we discovered really surprised us: Abel
Varela is, in fact, a baptized member of the Church.The Perez family (Antonio and Angie) invited Elder Knight, Elder
Turner, Elder Steffen and I all over to eat dinner with them again. I
was expecting to get there and eat shortly thereafter, but we ended up
waiting nearly an hour for all of the food to be ready. We began to
watch a movie about stories from one of the handcart companies that
was called "Seventeen Miracles." It brought to life the struggles that
the pioneers faced, but it also talked about the miracles that could
not be explained in any other way than divine help from God. The movie
nearly brought tears to my eyes. Eating with the Perez family was very
nice. They are really fun people to be around; they are a
Gospel-centered family; and they can cook very well. During the
evening, Elder Steffen and I went to use the internet at McDonald's (I
always feel weird walking in there on Sunday evenings) and sync up the
data on our iPads. We saw Dolores Hernandez talking to some of her
friends, and we were able to talk to all of them about the "Finding
Faith in Christ" DVD that we gave Dolores. It made all of her friends
interested in what we have to share. It's incredible how effective a
friend can be in sharing the Gospel, even if they are a non-member.
Once again, I apologize for not having the time yesterday to get
around to sending my emails off. Hopefully, all of you are doing well
and are getting ready for General Conference this Saturday and Sunday!
We have the opportunity to hear the words of the Apostles and the
Prophet, which provide a guide through us in these last days. One
other blessing that we have as missionaries during conference time is
the ability to go to the temple. We only get to go every six months,
and we have that privilege coming up on Wednesday, April 9th! That
will end up being my P-Day next week, so don't be surprised if you
don't hear from me before then.
Thank you again for all of your love and support! I miss each and
every one of you and hope that life is treating you all well! Remember
to count the blessings in life, and it should be easier to do at this
time of year as we come to commemorate the death and resurrection of
the Savior, Jesus Christ, in just a couple of weeks. Have a great
week, everyone!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
Sent from my iPad
wanted to let us in to learn more about what we believe. When Elder
Steffen and I got back to the apartment, we had to do a condensed
weekly planning session. We were quite efficient, and we finished just
in time to head over to the Monzon's house for dinner and correlation
meeting. Hermano Monzon wanted to started the meeting at 6 PM rather
than the usual 7 PM so that we could all come over and eat dinner as
well; however, Elder Steffen and I were the only missionaries who did
not show up an hour late. We still had the dinner and meeting, but we
didn't get home until about 9:45 PM. It seems like spending too much
time on one thing has some large ripple effects that cause other
things to take longer, too.
Saturday, March 29th, 2014:
The Varela family needed help with cutting down a few banana trees in
their back yard, so Elder Steffen and I went over to help in the
morning. It ended up being a much larger service project than we were
thinking it would be because Abel wanted to do a lot of yard work
while we had everyone together to work. We took down four banana
trees, cleaned out an entire garden, weeded all around the property,
in addition to removing a full truck load of trash. My favorite part
was using a pick axe to cut through the bark of the banana trees and
then pull them down. By the end of the five hours that we were
working, I was covered in dirt. I love grunt work like that because it
is so much fun to see the difference between the "before" and the
"after." When we finished, Abel bought everyone burgers from a local
burger joint called Troy's. I loved being able to eat some more
American food! I love eating Mexican food, but it is nice to be able
to enjoy a nice burger every once in a while. Elder Steffen and I
stayed around for a few minutes to talk to Abel, Alex and Alex's
daughter, Samantha. They are such a nice family, and Abel told us that
we are more than welcome to come back and visit and stay at his house.
One thing that I really love about Latino culture is the feeling of
"family" that everyone has; Latino people are much more unified as a
family (and consequently happier) than most white people. The more
that I work with Latinos, the more that I grow to love them and love
the differences between our cultures. Elder Steffen and I got back to
missionary work after we finished up with the service project.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to find anyone home. I was very happy
in knowing that we helped out the Varelas as much as we did, despite
not finding anyone to teach during the remainder of the day. It is
quite amazing how great I feel after doing service for people.
Sunday, March 30th, 2014:
Every fifth Sunday, the missionaries are in charge of all of the
lessons and the program at church; today happened to be one of thosedays, but no one told us in advance! We threw something together
quickly and managed to pull everything off. During Sacrament Meeting,
all of the missionaries in our district got up to sing "A Child's
Prayer" in Spanish from the Children's Songbook. It went fairly well,
but I am an awful singer. Hermana Lopez, Hermana Vellinga and Elder
Knight really carried the group on that song. After church ended,
Elder Steffen and I worked with Hermano Escobar to request a few more
records of members. What we discovered really surprised us: Abel
Varela is, in fact, a baptized member of the Church.The Perez family (Antonio and Angie) invited Elder Knight, Elder
Turner, Elder Steffen and I all over to eat dinner with them again. I
was expecting to get there and eat shortly thereafter, but we ended up
waiting nearly an hour for all of the food to be ready. We began to
watch a movie about stories from one of the handcart companies that
was called "Seventeen Miracles." It brought to life the struggles that
the pioneers faced, but it also talked about the miracles that could
not be explained in any other way than divine help from God. The movie
nearly brought tears to my eyes. Eating with the Perez family was very
nice. They are really fun people to be around; they are a
Gospel-centered family; and they can cook very well. During the
evening, Elder Steffen and I went to use the internet at McDonald's (I
always feel weird walking in there on Sunday evenings) and sync up the
data on our iPads. We saw Dolores Hernandez talking to some of her
friends, and we were able to talk to all of them about the "Finding
Faith in Christ" DVD that we gave Dolores. It made all of her friends
interested in what we have to share. It's incredible how effective a
friend can be in sharing the Gospel, even if they are a non-member.
Once again, I apologize for not having the time yesterday to get
around to sending my emails off. Hopefully, all of you are doing well
and are getting ready for General Conference this Saturday and Sunday!
We have the opportunity to hear the words of the Apostles and the
Prophet, which provide a guide through us in these last days. One
other blessing that we have as missionaries during conference time is
the ability to go to the temple. We only get to go every six months,
and we have that privilege coming up on Wednesday, April 9th! That
will end up being my P-Day next week, so don't be surprised if you
don't hear from me before then.
Thank you again for all of your love and support! I miss each and
every one of you and hope that life is treating you all well! Remember
to count the blessings in life, and it should be easier to do at this
time of year as we come to commemorate the death and resurrection of
the Savior, Jesus Christ, in just a couple of weeks. Have a great
week, everyone!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
Sent from my iPad
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